Good to hear Kuki is now getting the service he expected though as a Canadian he probably suffers from the desire to not make waves about service until some time has passed.
When traveling with an international mix of people at your table though one can experience cultural highs and lows of verbal expression. Had Mike been at your table than you might have seen this as a high and service improved earlier.
Course the issue is as we get too friendly with staff than we suffer pangs of perceived guilt if we take then to task.
Regardless, one does have the right to politely ask if the kitchen is causing them to not serve in time the dishes for all the table.

My Brit friends last November had no trouble in voicing displeasure but were always polite in their approach.

If it means anything, be glad you are not on the homeward part as our winds are from 70mph to 140mph today off the Pacific Coast:o

Sounds like your having fun! My wife and I will be taking the same trip on the 26th I was just wondering if the passengers were mostly older folks or is there a mix ? And also if there was much night life or does it slow down early?Sorry to bother you on your cruise! have fun cant wait to read your next post

We did the ship tour on the Grand Princess and enjoy it a lot. These tours fill up very fast and you have to put your name in before they announce the tours. Also I was surprise to see what we got as gifts from this tour. We calcuated that we received the same value or more in gifts which was very nice. We would do this again. We are packing for our March 26th cruise.

Nice pictures, thanks
The Satellite connection is not truly meant for posting numerous pictures depending on number of people, data being used including MTN phone traffic and the area of the ocean you are in
Course the price might be fun though I'd imagine you have free access by now.

The veal plate looked nice but talk about gravy overflow..\\

The tour of the ship is about 6 + hours and the reviews I've seen have been very positive.
Could you not get Paul to authorize the expenditure as you are working.

Sapphire Princess - March 2
It’s day 5 onboard and I’ve noticed that there are more motorized scooters onboard than there are people under 40. This actually seems quite understandable on a 14 night to cruise from L.A. to Hawaii return. This is a long cruise; a sea day intensive itinerary, and for people with mobility problems likely a pretty good way to see the Hawaiian Islands.

The only port of concern would be our stop in Lahaina, on the island of Maui, as that’s a port which requires tendering to shore from the ship.
Those people using motorized scooters have been very respectful; obeying all the street signs, and stop lights.

As I mentioned the other day, activities onboard start early on this ship. I noticed that passenger involved “game shows” were already beginning at 10:30 this morning. I can’t comment on attendance as I was still drinking my coffee and trying to remember my name at that time.

Plus, today we were greeted with great weather, which many people hadn’t experienced in many months at home. The open decks were the busy spot all day, and by afternoon it was easy to tell who forgot how to use sun tan lotion. Lots of bright red body parts moving around the ship.
Once again, looking at the scheduled events in the Princess Patter is dizzying. There seems to be another activity scheduled every 15 minutes. Of course I got to tired just reading the descriptions to attend. Instead, I spent time enjoying the sunshine with Mrs. Kuki and some CruiseMates friends.

Tonight was the second “non-smoking” night in the casino (the previous had been on Day 2). OK, now that I’ve broached the subject perhaps we should have a free for all melee about the “smoking policies” onboard the Sapphire Princess.

All areas of the public areas onboard are designated “non-smoking”, with the exceptions of the port-side Lido Deck (by the Dolphin Pool), Churchill’s Lounge (the Cigar Bar onboard, forward of the casino on Deck 6), portions of the casino (on most nights, and a designated portion of the Skywalker Nightclub.

The policy regarding smoking in guest cabins, and on verandas, is much more ambiguous. Basically it reads that smoking is permitted in guest cabins, “though discouraged” (asking smoker‘s to be considerate of the cabins next occupants), and smoking is allowed on balconies (but be respectful of nearby passengers). It seems that it’s pretty fancy side-stepping of the issue.

It appears as though they want it to appear they are against smoking in guest cabins and on verandas, yet don’t want to alienate those prospective passengers who do smoke. I dislike the spin of trying to sound politically correct, yet making no real decision on the policy.

At this point, I should admit I do smoke cigarettes. Yep… I’m a leper, and perhaps deservedly so. I am happy to abide by the smoking policies set out by the ship, but I do care for them trying to get by with ambiguity.

Statistics say that only 20 % of the population are smokers, so the desires of the majority should in fact be weighed heavily. And the rules for the public areas on the ship make some sense in an attempt to please both smokers and non-smokers. It’s much more difficult a task to appease both when it comes to the cabins on a ship.

Yet, I have a solution that I believe could quite practically put into place. I suggest the cruise line take 20% of cabins located towards the stern of the ship (where smoke will be blown toward the stern when the ship is underway), and designate those as “smoking allowed” cabins, and clearly not those cabin in their brochures, and on their web site. The other 80% of cabins could be designated totally smoke free cabins and balconies. Possibly this may not be as simple to put into practice as it sounds, but probably is also doable.

The one real problem area for non smokers is getting to and from the Princess Theater. Entering and exiting the Theater requires one to pass through the casino. The design is bad in many ways; you enter the Theater on Deck 6, have to walk up some stairs, and then either up or down more stairs depending on where you’d like to sit, or where there might be room.

Tonight we attended the 8:15 show of Steve Moris. More on the show in a minute, but people were lining up for the show almost a full hour prior to show time.

Steve Moris played with the Beach Boys for 20 yrs. His act was very entertaining; a combination of music, musical “schtick”, and comedy. Perhaps his best “line” was in his video introduction… The Kosher Cirque; Cirque Cumcision.

To end today’s report, I have to talk a bit more about service and food issues again. Dinner this time is not the issue, though my Chicken Noodle soup tonight looked eerily similar to my Won Ton soup of a couple of nights back, with very similar ingredients, and taste; only the won tons had been exchanged for pieces of chicken.

But today’s issue was explained to me by some of our tablemates who have breakfast each day in the Dining Room. The Dining Room breakfast menu states that if you order fresh eggs, that not part of the two daily “breakfast specials”, you should expect to wait 15 minutes. One of them ordered eggs, and the order was wrong, and they were required to wait another 15 minutes to get the correct order.

One can get freshly cooked eggs to order at the Trident Grill, beside the Dolphin Pool on Lido Deck in about 3-4 minutes. Go figure? The vast majority of passengers are getting their breakfast on Lido Deck, or Continental breakfast from Room Service, so the 15 minute minimum wait for an omelet in the Dining Room does seem excessive. And if an error is made, why they couldn’t remedy the problem much quicker than another 15 minutes is really bad service.

If readers have followed previous Virtual Cruise reports I’ve written, they’ll know I truly do not expect perfection. In fact I’m probably too accepting of flaws or a few speed bumps in the road during a cruise. But frankly, I think Princess might want to worry more about these things than I do. If they’re not noticing, they really aren’t watching their operations closely enough, if they want to continue to be viewed as a “Premium Brand”.
I have to admit, for probably the first time since I began writing Virtual Cruises, I am struggling with these daily reports because the ship is in such fine shape physically, the cabin services are extremely good, but the other hotel operations are struggling to satisfy me.

Though it may be difficult to understand, despite much of my negative commentary, we are truly having a magnificent time onboard. Weird huh?

Unfortunately one of our CruiseMates tablemates has taken ill. It doesn’t appear to be anything serious, but does appear to be gastrointestinal. It was reported to the medical team, and they sent in a team to sanitize the cabin, and have assigned a separate cabin steward for the cabin (I assume as a precaution to prevent further spread if the problem is communicable). The guest has been restricted to the their cabin for 24 hrs., to observe. However the person’s spouse was not quarantined, only asked to not use the buffet. We’ll just hope the problem is simple, and that our CruiseMates recovery is speedy.

I’d forgotten how tiny the showers are in these cabins. It appears Mrs. Kuki and I have grown with age (a nice way of saying expanded). Years ago the two of could share the shower space. Today, not only is that impossible, if I want my feet washed I have to stick them out beyond the shower curtain, and ask her assistance. As well, the bath towels are about big enough for someone who can fit in the shower. The really nice thing about the shower is it has great water pressure, and plenty of hot water.

We rarely bother with the shower in the cabin. We simply go up to the spa, which almost always has beautiful free showers in the changing rooms, equipped with large fluffy towels, and even a better selection of shampoos than the cabin!

We rarely bother with the shower in the cabin. We simply go up to the spa, which almost always has beautiful free showers in the changing rooms, equipped with large fluffy towels, and even a better selection of shampoos than the cabin!

If people were spa users that would make some sense. But we're normally showering just prior to dinner, and I wouldn't drag my butt up to the spa, and then back to the cabin to dress. But then I'm lazy

Nice pictures, thanks
The Satellite connection is not truly meant for posting numerous pictures depending on number of people, data being used including MTN phone traffic and the area of the ocean you are in
Course the price might be fun though I'd imagine you have free access by now.

The veal plate looked nice but talk about gravy overflow..\\

The tour of the ship is about 6 + hours and the reviews I've seen have been very positive.
Could you not get Paul to authorize the expenditure as you are working.

Have a nice day

My normal practice is to write late at night when I return to the cabin, and post my pictures, as that is when the internet is being used the least.

That's been difficult this trip, because most nights, that's when the internet service has been inaccessible.

Glad to hear people are enjoying themselves even though the food could be a bit better. I wish I was with you but sometimes life gets in the way.

In regard to going to the spa to shower. I'm with you. I still fit in the shower and I have no desire to drag myself to spa, shower in what is basically a locker room, and then go back to the cabin and get dressed.

Take care,
Mike

__________________Cruisemates Community Leader/Moderator

"There is a great difference between being well traveled and just having been to many places." ~Me

Shlepping anywhere other than the few feet to the bathroom to shower, would not be something I would do....I only wish, every cabin bathroom in my future, would be exactly like mine, on the Epic...<sigh>

The policy regarding smoking in guest cabins, and on verandas, is much more ambiguous. Basically it reads that smoking is permitted in guest cabins, “though discouraged” (asking smoker‘s to be considerate of the cabins next occupants), and smoking is allowed on balconies (but be respectful of nearby passengers). It seems that it’s pretty fancy side-stepping of the issue.

If I were a smoker I would just read that as "don't smoke on the balcony if your neighbors are out there." - it seems pretty simple to me. The only question is "how far does that go...." two, three cabins, up down? or until someone 10 cabins away starts yelling at you to "put out that darn cancer stick out before I run you down with my scooter!"

BTW: I had to shower in the spa on Norwegian Epic for three days because my shower didnt work. It wasn't that bad, really.

We hit land day, with our first port of call in Hilo (the Big Island), and we did one the most popular tours on the ship, the free shuttle to Hilo Hatties and WalMart.

Having been to Hilo several times in the past we've done the falls, and Volcano National Park, so we took this oppportunity, like many of the crew, to go stock up on "essentials". In my case Caffeine Free Diet Coke, which I had no trouble being back onboard.

I prefer itineraries that stop in Kona, on the other side of the big island, but for first time visitors Hilo is more convenient for getting to the Volcano National Park.

One oddity about "smoking" which I forgot to mention. In the Duty Free ship onboard, if you buy cigarettes by the carton, like liquor, you can not take them with you, they are delivered to you the last night of the cruise.

And like liquor, you can purchase single packages in all the bars. This doesn't affect me personally, as I bring my supply of regular Canadian cigarettes with me. It's just odd.

Time for me to meet Mrs. Kuki on deck for a late lunch. We'll "talk" later.

I just investigated this price comparison. Now I like the NCL option, too. You see a lot of Hawaii in the seven day cruise (in port every single day).

The longer cruises are for people who like days at sea - and believe or not the cost of a 17-day cruise is comparable to the 7-day NCL option after you figure in flights and the hotel you need to book if you want to see anything on Oahu (like Honolulu).

Figure about $4250 for two people for the NCL option (from L.A.) - while a 17-day mainland cruise is about $4000 oceanview (more for balcony).

But I like the actual Hawaii itinerary better with the NCL option - as long as you fly in early and get the hotel in Honolulu.

We paid far less than that when we did it a couple of years ago. We had an aft balcony and I think paid around $1,200. Flights from the Westcoast are getting dirt cheap with all the competition (recently priced on Alaska at $550 for two). My parents paid $1,000 for an inside that included air...and then paid for an upgrade of about $75 pp for an OV.

Kuki, this thread is making me sad. When we cruised on Sapphire last year everything about her was the best cruise we'd ever had, the food, the service, everything. And we had the same cabin that you're in....love that view

Tracky - just so you know I JUST priced Pride of America last week for an article I was researching. I picked a late June date. It is probably cheaper in the autumn, but I am dead sure of my prices, including $510 RT from LAX (which is pretty cheap).

Sapphire has 5 dining rooms! and 3 1/2 of them are open seating. I know you host a table but you could all easily agree to eat in a different dining room at the same time. Why continue if the waiter is not up to snuff?

Paul, I'm not saying you're wrong, just that there are deals to be had. We cruised in April and I can already see a $400 price difference PP between that and June. And I'm not surprised Air is higher in late June.

Kuki I have a question as we are sailing on this ship on March 26th. How is the buffet at midnight. We love to go up and get some nice fruit before bed and a good cup of coffee. Do they have anything else on the buffet at midnight. I understand they are all cutting back on what they serve at midnight.
Thanks. My wife and I are following your comments every day and making notes.

I know I cannot link you all to one of my UK boards but the threads on smoking are almost like being for or against guns in the US. It starts off very nice with opinions then explodes into a viral war between individuals and one might call it chitchat but it does become ugly.

I'd just keep it simple and ask people to respect each persons needs to the best of their ability when sharing space on a ship of 3,000 + souls.

In terms of your suggestion of dedicated balcony cabins at the stern (if I had that right). we should not go in that direction as you take away my right to choose a view I might enjoy on a ship as much as you do.

The cruise lines will eventually go in a direction but comes down to the revenue stream and country / location of the cruise.

Sapphire Princess - March 3
This morning, as the Sapphire sailed into Hilo she was accompanied by a pod of Humpback whales swimming close enough to the ship to been by the naked eye. Unfortunately they were not visible from by bed, with my eyes closed, so I missed it.

A helicopter tour, flying over the volcano, is probably one the best things to do during a visit to Hilo. We’ve done that previously, so as posted earlier today, we did Hilo Hatties and WalMart.

Hanging around outside of those stores, and talking to fellow passengers can be a very interesting pastime. Princess has many long time repeat passengers who are amongst the most loyal brand ambassadors of any line. I talked to several of them today. In their eyes Princess can do no wrong, no matter what the topic, and I got told so several times today.

However, what is very true on ships, is that every person onboard can have a different experience, and view things differently. I would never presume to tell someone what they think and feel is any less true than what I’m thinking and feeling. Of course it’s possible we’re all right, because no two experiences and expectations are the same.

Today, I also made a point of talking to some other members of our CruiseMates group who I ran into during the course of the day, and none pointed to any service issues, even those seated near to us in the dining room. And then of course, to top off the discussions of the day, tonight we had a wonderful dinner service, and the evening’s menu was superb.

The entertainment this evening were repeat performances of the acts from last night, with the comedy/musician moving to the Explorers Lounge, and the ventriloquist moving to the Princess Theater. As we’d seen both, and the casino is closed tonight, a few of us decided to come relax on our balcony until the 9:15 P.M. Deck Party that’s scheduled. It was a perfect night, and relaxing on the balcony enjoying nice conversation, combined with anticipation of our early arrival in Honolulu, removed any motivation to go up for the Deck Party.

I also have very good news to report on our ill cruisemate. He made a full recovery from his “gastro issue” and was released from his in cabin restriction this morning in time to make the tour he booked.

An interesting tidbit he explained at dinner, that gave us a few good laughs. I described some of the actions that were taken yesterday, when he first reported the problem. What we learned today was that he was also supplied with free laundry for all their belongings.

So, if you don’t mind spending 24 hrs. restricted to your cabin in exchange for having all your clothing laundered free, just report a gastrointestinal issue.

On a more serious, and sadder note, a passenger was taken from the ship by ambulance today. Of course nothing was said, but whoever the person is, we certainly feel bad, and wish them and their family the very best. I’m just glad it wasn’t a more serious incident requiring medical evacuation necessary before reaching land. I do hope the passenger had travel insurance.

Sapphire has 5 dining rooms! and 3 1/2 of them are open seating. I know you host a table but you could all easily agree to eat in a different dining room at the same time. Why continue if the waiter is not up to snuff?

Paul... after watching for 5 days I honestly don't think our issues were with the wait staff, but were issues within the galley.

The waiter may have been flustered the one night it went really bad, but in observing I think he is quite capable. I think that is a judgement I'm capable of stating with confidence with my 30 years in the bar and restaurant business. It's easy to spot bad servers

In galleys there is a pecking order of who gets served first. Perhaps our staff have been moved up the list.

At any rate, I discuss the option with not only our tablemates, but the cruisemates surrounding us, and most seem happy to stay with the present arrangement.